SAME SAME BUT DIFFERENT

Here is a common issue in Thailand; magazines with the same names as ones from overseas.
Because a license must be granted to print in Thailand it would be almost impossible for the U.K. food magazine (above) to be granted a license for a Thai language edition.
The Thai version is nothing to do with food; it's a lifestyle, health and beauty title, but the mere fact it has the same name could cause future problems.
Why is this a problem?





Essentially, all publishers with aspirations to license a title in any country must ensure they hold the rights and the trademark - a time-consuming and troublesome task - but one that needs to be done if a title can work in an overseas territory.

I doubt the publishers of the U.K. title monitor the Thai media but they should - and all other countries for that matter. In this case, and in my humble, non-legal view, it would be impossible for U.K. Olive to have a Thai edition - which is a shame because it's one of my personal favourite magazines.
Titles are one thing; content it another. How many publishers around the world are regularly monitoring the Thai media to ensure their valuable content isn't being re-used in a language they cannot read? I'd venture to say there are very few, and add that it's happening a lot more than anyone thinks.
Back in my BusinessWeek days we found examples of one of Thailand's leading daily national newspapers repeating content from that magazine - without permission and without any form of payment happening to the original publisher.